The Partner Channel Magazine Summer 2017 Final 2

More documents

Recommendations

Info

User Group Summit Nashville is the can’t-miss conference for learning and networking, and Nashville knows how to party. Expect a good time. At Summit Nashville each fall, Dynamics partners, customers, and Microsoft professionals join together for intense knowledge-sharing, industry-leading innovation, conversations and roundtable discussions. We know it’s time away from the office, but the ROI is undeniable. Here are the top 5 reasons you will want to attend as a Dynamics partner: • Expand your connections: Connect with your clients, partner peers and Microsoft executives via dedicated and casual networking opportunities. • Enhance your professional skills: Choose from hundreds of product sessions to build your knowledge and discover best practices from the experts. • Explore solutions: Use this premier opportunity to explore Microsoft Dynamics solutions, ISV products and learn about future roadmaps. • Exhibit leadership: Build your personal and corporate brand as a thought leader and expert in your field or industry. • Improve customer satisfaction and ROI: Meet with your customers face-to-face in one convenient location, reducing travel costs and time. Invite your clients to join you at Summit Nashville to maximize their investment in Microsoft technologies using your unique 10% off coupon code.* NEW THIS YEAR! Add the exclusive Partner Exchange event on to your Summit Nashville registration to discuss hot top-of-mind topics for partners. User Group Summit Nashville | October 10-13, 2017 Learn more & register: www.dynamiccommunities.com/conferences *See your user group’s Partner Resource Library for details.
the partner channel ® maGaZine Why Change 48 winter 2016 | thepartnerchannel.com a pUBlication DeDicateD to BUilDinG a commUnitY For partnerS Is there a doctor in the house? The User Group Summits feature “medics” that help answer user questions. What do you think is the most popular question this group of medics received? on the homeFront Like a Snow Globe memBerS onlY corner T3 Information Systems Why Change A New Approach to Communication Seven Questions to Ask Before You Commit Var proFile Innovia Consulting Partner-to-Partner Learning at PreGAME to Summit iSV proFile Data Masons Software the GeniUS SerieS Marketing Class Update Email your caption to Jenny at Jenny@ thepartnerchannel. com. Submissions will be judged on creativity, relevance, and sense of humor. The prize for this contest is two (2) tickets to your local cinema. photo caption conteSt anD reSUltS thepartnerchannel.com | winter 2016 5 18 WINTER 2016 | THEPARTNERCHANNEL.COM story by CHRISTOPHER ELMORE illustration by DAVE SWANG have a unique perspective on change. On one hand, I counsel salespeople to help their clients make a big change in the way they do business. On the other, I help accounting and finance people change a process they have known their entire business life. Given those facts, my professional life is dedicated to helping people change. Personally, I don’t like change and find it very difficult. Until recently, whenever change came up in my personal or professional life, my initial reaction was simply, “NO!” AND THEN… It all started with a simple request by a local university to teach a course on entrepreneurship. My company was doing well and getting a lot of attention in the community, so I thought this would be a great way to give back a little and influence the next generation. The funny thing is I got more out of teaching the class than my students. It came all around one word: “Why.” IN THE PROCESS… While I was teaching a section on messaging, I came across Simon Sinek’s Ted Talk on what he referred to as “The Golden Circle.” I know; hang with me here. Now, I had heard about this and had known about the idea for years, but for some reason I had never connected the principles of The Golden Circle with change management. I think one of my hang-ups was the name. For some reason it seemed like a scheme or a network marketing program. The Golden Circle has three levels of understanding: What, how, and why. It struck me that knowing why you need to do something, or why something is being done, is the key to change management. The problem is, on the list of what, how, and why, most people tend to spend the majority of time and effort on “how.” HOW? In corporate America, we are such “doers”; doers to the point that we have a tendency to forget about why we’re doing what we are doing. It’s kind of like the Hatfield-McCoy feud that lasted almost 30 years. When it ended, the families were asked why they fought each other; no one could remember. Why we do what we do – our mission – is an important reminder that helps the tasks have meaning and purpose. How we do what we do is the means to an end and can help our tasks be as efficient as possible. BIG FINISH! To make a point (you are welcome) and to be very clear about change and the importance of doing change well, I think we have put change behind the wrong noun. When you think of helping people change, most think “change management.” Management will help you with the “how” and not the “why.” Leadership points to “why.” I did a study find the logo contest SUMMER 2017 Jen Brett of Informed Systems, Inc. found the hidden logo in Adrianne Machina’s “10 Tweaks to Transform Your Website” article on page 43 of the Spring 2017 magazine. Let’s give it another try. The submission rules for this quarter’s contest are the same – log on to www.thepartnerchannel.com/magazine under “Find the Logo Contest” to let us know where you think the logo is located. A winner will be drawn at random and will receive a cool gift that’s sure to point you in the right direction every day! Here’s a list of places where our logo usually appears, thus making them null and void when it comes to this contest: » Do I have the ability to do this right? Let’s say you plan on hosting a live event or webinar. Do you have enough time to create and send the invitations, make reminder calls, create the landing page, build beautiful graphics, run all the event logistics, prepare the presentations, and send after-event follow-up emails? A lot of WINTER contents 2016 in every issue time and effort goes into 8 each piece. If you can’t do it all, maybe you shouldn’t do this event – at least not right newS 9 now. You are far better off eVentS contriBUtorS 10 doing fewer things 100 percent of the way than being half-committed to a whole 12 Why Change bunch of activities. 50 18 aDVertiSer inDeX » How will we know if 52 this activity has been successful? Success measurements are an area where the liSt 53 marketing and sales need departments to get on the same page. Marketing I will consider a campaign successful if it gets 14 leaDerShip Dare to Let Go... a significant number of 18 downloads, whereas sales might think the campaign is a failure because no leads SaleS 22 marKetinG Eyes on the Prize converted into opportunities. 34 Set up success criteria at the beginning of the campaign. Make sure sales and leaDerShip marketing personnel each 38 know their roles and how this campaign fits into the overarching goals of the sales/ marKetinG features marketing department. worD-a-GanZa 21 » How long are we going 26 to be committed to this endeavor? What’s the level of effort required? 28 FeatUre Relationship marketing loGo conteSt 41 and content marketing are marathons, not sprints. If you are going to commit to producing a blog or podcast, 42 you need to stick with it. Be realistic about your expectations. Don’t be discouraged 44 when people don’t show 48 up in droves right away. Last year, I helped a company get really consistent with their blogging and social media. I told them they had to commit to at least a year, and I’m glad I did, because it took some time to figure out what really resonated with their audience. A year later, their sales are up 30 Table percent, and of the only Contents thing we changed was their Sales, online presence. Marketing Give yourself time & to learn what it takes. If something still isn’t producing results for you a year down the road, then it’s time to re-evaluate. » Do we have money for this in the budget? Leadership If not, what will we have Intros to give up to do this? Sometimes marketing involves not just the trade-off of one marketing activity for another, but rather this marketing activity versus hiring another person or purchasing equipment or software. Because marketing is often treated as an expense (versus an investment), it’s often the first department to get its budget re-allocated to something more pressing. That’s one of the reasons I recommend clients have a committed marketing budget. You absolutely cannot have professional, ongoing marketing activities if your marketing team always has to run to finance to le to edit your own people’s tastes for tures, case studies, ntent management ins can add almost u don’t want to use once built, you can SALES ask for spending approval. Set an amount. Stick to it. If you don’t know what your marketing budget should be, budget for a marketing consultant who can help you figure it out. Marketing is constantly evolving, so it’s important to try new things. Asking these seven questions will help reduce your risk and get you a positive return on your marketing investments. I also recommend you give yourself a little wiggle room. Write your budget “in pencil” so you can shift dollars around and have some cushion for when Microsoft or another Partner comes up with a brilliant idea that you want to participate in. Keep your eyes and ears photo caption open for opportunity, but don’t be afraid to say NO if the fit isn’t right. contest Need a little velocity added to your marketing projects? Contact the marketing tornado at Amachina@tornadomktg.com. these 10 things will Photo Caption Page image or video that ng first impression becomes instantly REMEMBER THIS WHEN RE-DEVELOPING YOUR WEBSITE My number one piece of advice when starting a website project is to make sure you will be able to edit your own website when the project is complete (even if you choose not to). Website best practices and people’s tastes for “what looks good” change constantly. You should be continually adding events, blog posts, pictures, case studies, and more. Keep your website fresh! Personally, I advocate for using WordPress as your website platform. WordPress is the content management system for nearly 20 percent of websites today, and its themes are all mobile-responsive. Plug-ins can add almost any functionality you need, and the software is naturally search engine-friendly. However, if you don’t want to use WordPress, there are plenty of good content management system options. Just make sure that once built, you can edit your website yourself without a website developer. 10 TWEAKS TO TRANSFORM YOUR WEBSITE Whether you are designing a new website or just making changes to your existing website, these 10 things will make the biggest difference in user experience: 1. Create a strong hero image on your home page. A hero image is a big, bold image or video that takes up most of the space on your home page “above the fold”, giving visitors a strong first impression of your website. Layer a strong message on top and add a call to action, and your site becomes instantly more attractive. THEPARTNERCHANNEL.COM | SPRING 2016 2017 43 SPRING 2017 Location The End of Each Article thepartnerchannel.com | winter 2016 39 Dynamic Sales, Purchasing, and Inventory Management for Your Clients (And great margins for you, their partner) SalesPad’s 100% inventory visibility gives GP users the confidence to sell, ship and deliver on time and at the right price. Schedule a demo today. www.salespad.net/partnerchannel THEPARTNERCHANNEL.COM | SPRING 2016 2017 43 Any graphics that have the TPC logo as a main element Built from a partnership between a small business owner and a developer, SalesPad knows ERP. It’s why we exist, and why more than 12,000 people trust SalesPad to manage their distribution operations. THEPARTNERCHANNEL.COM | SUMMER 2017 51
Page 1: SUMMER 2017 | WWW.THEPARTNERCHANNEL
Page 4 and 5: Paperless AP Processing? No sheets,
Page 6 and 7: KEEP your SEAT at the TABLE stratos
Page 9 and 10: CONTRIBUTORS peter joeckel pam mcge
Page 11 and 12: EVENTS UPCOMING EVENTS? Going somew
Page 13 and 14: When it comes to your career “I s
Page 15 and 16: THEPARTNERCHANNEL.COM | SUMMER 2017
Page 17 and 18: SMART P2P calls for completion of i
Page 19 and 20: And why spend “literally billions
Page 21 and 22: Grow your business with Microsoft D
Page 25 and 26: What do other people notice? Rock y
Page 27 and 28: PHONE 844-582-8883 EMAIL Tom.mescal
Page 29 and 30: ARMANINO • BABY GOATS • CASE ST
Page 31 and 32: Are they ready for us yet?! Instead
Page 33 and 34: Red Maple
Page 37 and 38: When you look carefully, leads are
Page 39 and 40: PHOTO CAPTION contest results Waaah
Page 41 and 42: ESTABLISHED 2015 INDUSTRIES Distrib
Page 43 and 44: THEPARTNERCHANNEL.COM | | SUMMER SP
Page 46 and 47: MARKETING WHY ONE SIZE DOES NOT FIT
Page 48 and 49: had a database of more than 9,000 n
Page 52 and 53: THANKS to the Experts Who Make It A
Page 54 and 55: ADVERTISER INDEX Altec. . . . . . .
Page 56 and 57: Industry A erospace Construction Cr
Page 58 and 59: INDUSTRY Vicinity Manufacturing www
Page 60 and 61: INDUSTRY Red Maple 3650 www.redmapl
Page 62 and 63: Prophix Software C heck Printing Co
Page 64 and 65: Datahaven for Dynamics E DI HORIZON
Page 66 and 67: HORIZONTAL Corporate Renaissance Gr
Page 68 and 69: HORIZONTAL Integrity Data www.integ
Page 70 and 71: HORIZONTAL Royalty Eclipse Computin
Page 72 and 73: T ravel Expense Management W arrant
Page 74 and 75: Integrity Data www.integrity-data.c
Page 76: When it comes to PROCESS MANUFACTUR

The Partner Channel Magazine Summer 2017 Final 2

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?